


The (Un)Lucky Seven

by littlecajunlady



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 01 (Critical Role), Family, Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-11 17:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13529094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlecajunlady/pseuds/littlecajunlady
Summary: Growing up, Percy had a unique relationship with each of his siblings.





	1. Julius

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back in October and I never posted it because I'd planned to write more, giving Percy and each of his siblings a short one-on-one drabble to explore what those relationships might have been like. Unfortunately I haven't gotten myself to write more since, but I still wanted to share this anyway. If I ever get myself to continue, then I'll fix/add more tags as I go. And possibly a better summary and title.
> 
> This one is about Percy and Julius.

“Percival!” Julius called as he briefly poked his head into rooms as he passed them. “Percy, where are you? We don’t have time for games.”

Percy tucked himself deeper into the wardrobe, but it did no good. The wardrobe doors suddenly flew open, and there stood his older brother, incredibly well-dressed and frowning down at him. Julius looked so like their father when he scowled.

“You’re meant to be getting dressed for dinner. You know we have important guests coming.”

“We always have important guests,” Percy grumbled, allowing Julius to take him by the arm to help him down from the wardrobe.

“Of course, we’re de Rolos,” Julius said primly.

Percy crossed his arms and huffed. ‘We’re de Rolos’ seemed to be the reason for everything unpleasant he was made to do. He’d much rather be using the tinkering tools he’d just gotten for his ninth birthday, not sitting at yet another boring dinner where he’d be completely ignored anyway.

Julius squinted at his little brother, all knobby knees and gangly limbs. “You’re getting too big to be hiding in wardrobes. You won’t fit in there much longer.”

“Then I’ll find somewhere else to hide!”

Percy made to run off, but Julius caught him easily by the shoulder. “No you don’t! Mother said I had to make sure you were all dressed for dinner.”

“Why you?” Percy sniffed. “Isn’t that what the servants are for?”

“You are such a shit,” Julius said with the smallest hint of a smile. “Besides, how can they do their jobs if you constantly hide from them? Then it becomes _my_ job to find you.”

Percy barely heard any of that. His main focus was on his brother’s use of the word ‘shit’. “You’re not allowed to use that word, you know.”

Julius raised an eyebrow. “But you wouldn’t tell, would you?”

“No . . . I wouldn’t.”

Percy would probably rat out a number of his siblings, depending on the benefit or just how petty he felt in the moment, but never Julius. He’d never admit it, but Percy quite looked up to his big brother. Julius excelled in so many things that he did not. He was thirteen years old and nearly all grown up in Percy’s eyes and therefore much more interesting than his younger siblings.

“Now come on,” Julius said, pushing Percy ahead and out of the room. “We have twenty minutes to make you presentable.”

“Only presentable?” Percy quipped. Julius shoved him forward again.

And Julius did it. Twenty minutes later they went down to dinner together, their parents, Vesper, and Oliver coming into view, as well as their esteemed dinner guests.

Percy sighed and pulled at his collar. “They’ll only talk about boring things, nothing I like.”

“I’ll talk to you.”

Percy shook his head. “No, you’re meant to be paying attention. Father always says that you and Vesper have the most to learn, that –”

Julius stopped him with a wave of his hand. “I can have one night off. We’ll talk quietly. I want you tell me all about what you’ve made so far.”

“Well, nothing yet, I’m still designing.”

“Nothing! Vesper and I got you those tinkering tools so you could be _making_ things. We expect presents.”

“All right, what would you like?”

“Well, for starters . . .”

Julius led him over to the rest of their family, and he kept his word. He talked to Percy the whole night.


	2. Vesper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I struggled with this one. I came up with little headcanons for all of Percy's siblings, but this chapter wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be for a while. Again, not quite sure how long I'll go with this (though I have already started the next one), so I'm just taking them one at a time. The idea (and hope) is to have at least one chapter for each sibling going in birth order and just see what happens from there.
> 
> Anyway, hope you like this one. And this version of Vesper.

Percy squinted as soon as he stepped out into the harsh sunlight on a particularly warm summer day. He’d been holed up in his workshop for days, until his mother arrived and insisted he get some fresh air.

“Fresh air is overrated, Mother,” Percy had quipped. When the only response he got from her was a stern glare and a finger pointing at the door, he knew it best not to argue. With a heavy sigh, he pushed himself up from the table and left his designs behind. He’d been feeling stuck anyway. Maybe a short break would do him some good.

That had been his first thought as he’d walked out the door, quickly followed by thinking he didn’t remember the sun being this bright. Then once he could see again, he realized that all of his siblings were out in the courtyard as well. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who’d been forced out of the castle for the day.

Percy watched Whitney braid Cassandra’s hair, while Oliver sat on Ludwig’s head and teased him mercilessly.  Then he noticed Vesper sitting on a bench nearby, petting an orange kitten that sat in her lap. She always had animals around her; it was as if she naturally attracted them. He’d even seen birds land on her shoulder more than once. Looking back at his other siblings, he easily decided in that moment he’d much rather spend his time with Vesper.

He sat beside her on the bench and she smiled in hello, but neither of them said anything to each other for quite a while.  In the distance Percy saw Julius come into view as he escorted a pretty young woman through the courtyard, and his brother smiled and nodded as she talked, well-taught polite interest on his face. Percy nodded in their direction. “Do you think he likes this one?”

“You know I don’t.”

“Maybe she’ll be different from the others.”

“Oh Percival, not different enough,” she sighed woefully. “For someone so clever, you can be so thick sometimes.”

He opened his mouth to argue but decided to let it go. Vesper was usually a very kind person. Even too kind sometimes, he thought. She didn’t usually say things like that unless she meant to make a point. He thought on her words for a moment as he watched Julius pick a flower and give it to the girl.

“Our parents are very keen to marry us off, aren’t they?”

Just like he’d done, she opened her mouth to speak and then seemed to think better of it. With a little shake of her head, she said, “Yes, they are. They’ve already started looking for a suitor for me as well.”

“You?! But you’re only sixteen!”

She shrugged, scratching the kitten under its chin and determinedly not looking at him. “I suppose they think they’ll need more time to find someone who’ll have me.”

“That’s ridiculous. They would never say that.”

“No, not in those words. Some words sound kinder, but they mean the same thing as the awful ones.”  She let out a shaky breath. “Words like plain and stout and timid and trite, to name a few.”

Percy immediately found himself angry on her behalf. His blue eyes met her brown, and he told her in a clipped, stern voice, “Those are not words that could ever pertain to you.”

Almost despite herself, she smiled and gave his knee a little pat. “It still surprises me that you can be sweet when you want to be.”

“I am _not_ sweet,” he huffed. “I’ve been called downright taciturn, you know.”

She burst out laughing at that. “Percy, I’m afraid you’ve been called much, much worse.”  
  
“That’s fair,” he grinned, then stood. “Well, I’ve had quite enough of the outdoors, I think. Would you like to sneak back into the castle with me?”

“Oh yes,” she agreed, setting the kitten gently onto the ground before standing to join him.

They slowly walked toward the castle together in easy silence, but the subject of marriage and his parents’ ideals on it still rankled. Would they start in on him soon as well? He didn’t know if he ever wanted to get married, but if he did he wanted it to be someone of his own choosing, not someone his parents picked out for him.

“If Mother and Father pick someone for you, would you marry him?”

She stopped walking and thought on it a moment. “I suppose so, if they found a good one.”

“But –” Percy immediately started to argue, but she interrupted.

“I wouldn’t just blindly marry anyone they chose, Percy! We wouldn’t get married right away; things don’t have to work like that anymore. There would be a courting period and an engagement. We’d get to know each other first, to see if we’re even a good match.”

“Still seems a bit . . . unnatural,” Percy shuddered. “It would be better to meet someone on your own and deem them fit for yourself, wouldn’t it?”

Vesper shrugged and kicked at the grass with her shoe. “I don’t know. It seems like a lot of trouble, and I really couldn’t be bothered with it when I have so many other things to occupy my time. I’ve never been terribly concerned about marriage and everything that can come with it, but that’s what people do, isn’t it? And since it means so much to them and so little to me . . . why not?”

Percy frowned. They’d been raised the same and had many of the same expectations thrust upon them, but he didn’t understand why Julius and Vesper so blindly accepted the roles their parents insisted on putting them in.

“Sure, that’s what people do. That doesn’t mean you have to do it. Why get married if that’s not what you want?”

Again, she shrugged. “I may not care about having a husband, but I do like the idea of having a partner, a companion to spend my days with. I don’t want to be lonely, Percival.”

They started walking again while Percy was lost in his thoughts for a moment. He didn’t always agree with his sister, but she had a way of saying things that made him reconsider her side. Still, he just could not see himself relenting on this particular matter.

“I suppose that’s fine for you then, but I won’t marry who they pick for me. I’ll be the one to find her, if I’m ever so inclined. But I don’t think I will be. I could be content with my work and little else. In fact, I think I’d quite like to be completely on my own.”

Vesper sighed and shook her head. She had that familiar look on her face, the one she wore often when she looked at him, like she found her little brother to be utterly exasperating. “No,” she said simply. “You wouldn’t.”


End file.
